


War Dog (an Operation Leopard Remix)

by keerawa



Series: Can a Leopard Change His Spots? [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221B Ficlet, A Bit Not Good, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, BAMF John, John Works For Mycroft, M/M, Pre-Slash, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 16:50:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3699809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keerawa/pseuds/keerawa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skills and attitudes developed to survive in a combat zone may make reintegration into civilian life difficult for returning soldiers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	War Dog (an Operation Leopard Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Operation: Leopard](https://archiveofourown.org/works/318486) by [nox_candida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nox_candida/pseuds/nox_candida). 



> This 221B is a companion piece to my first remix of nox_candida's fic, [Plausible Deniability](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3669969), but can be read as a stand-alone.

John Watson. Doctor Watson. Captain Watson. Whisky. And now, fifteen years later, I'm meant to be John Watson again? It’s impossible.

When the Americans pulled their troops out of Vietnam, they left their war dogs behind, to be put down. Redundant war materiel - too dangerous for peacetime. 

“Bit not good,” I tell Sherlock, as I’ve told myself a hundred times, trying to remember how to be a civilian, a decent human being. Every night I dream of battlefield surgeries, of firefights and HALO jumps. I’m not haunted by the war. I lost everyone I ever cared for to that damned war, but I still … I miss it. 

I drop the ‘psychosomatic limp’ within a day, ploy forgotten in the rush of a roof-top chase, and the arrogant git assumes he cured it. I shoot a man dead, and he covers it up.

I’m under orders to enter into a romantic relationship with Sherlock. He’s brilliant, and gorgeous, and absolutely mad. How he survived this long without a keeper is a mystery. He has one now. A keeper. I’m keeping him.

I think the British government owes me that much.

Civilian life isn't so bad. Compared to Sherlock, I can pass for normal. His Work requires the very best and worst of my skills. And London? The city's just one more battlefield.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone out there has friends or family who are struggling to re-adjust to life as a civilian, I recommend the article [8 Battlefield Skills That Make Reintegration Challenging](http://www.realwarriors.net/active/afterdeployment/combatskills.php).


End file.
